Titanic99 Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 I had to smile the other day whilst watching the Derry City versus Linfield footie match on Setanta. For those of you unfamiliar with Irish football and politics, Derry is a city in Northern Ireland whose football team is mainly followed by the Catholic/Nationalist community and who play their football in the Republic of Irelands league. Linfield are a staunch Protestant/Unionist (some would say bigoted) team from Belfast who play their football in the Northern Ireland league and they were coming together to play in an all-Ireland cup competition. To complicate things further the Catholic/Nationalists refer to the place in question as Derry, whilst the Protestant/Unionists refer to the same place as Londonderry. So at one end of the ground you had banners supporting Derry City and at the other end, banners were on display for the Londonderry Blues (Linfield’s nickname). It got me wondering, is the place in question technically/legally known as Derry or Londonderry and who decides this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarSparkle Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 I had to smile the other day whilst watching the Derry City versus Linfield footie match on Setanta. For those of you unfamiliar with Irish football and politics, Derry is a city in Northern Ireland whose football team is mainly followed by the Catholic/Nationalist community and who play their football in the Republic of Irelands league. Linfield are a staunch Protestant/Unionist (some would say bigoted) team from Belfast who play their football in the Northern Ireland league and they were coming together to play in an all-Ireland cup competition. To complicate things further the Catholic/Nationalists refer to the place in question as Derry, whilst the Protestant/Unionists refer to the same place as Londonderry. So at one end of the ground you had banners supporting Derry City and at the other end, banners were on display for the Londonderry Blues (Linfield’s nickname). It got me wondering, is the place in question technically/legally known as Derry or Londonderry and who decides this? I believe the Cathlics/Nationalists refer to the city as Derry and the Protestants/Unionists refer to it as Londonderry. Simple as that, as far as I know. StarSparkle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bildo Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 Whatever you call it that's what it's called. There is no governing body that dictates what people call places in Ireland. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimbobG Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 There is actually, there was a high court judgement recently. Londonderry is the British name for it, it's in Northern Ireland, so therefore it's legally Londonderry. If you can be bothered with the legalese it's all here: http://www.bailii.org/cgi-bin/markup.cgi?doc=/nie/cases/NIHC/QB/2007/5.html&query=title+(+Derry+)&method=boolean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
depoix Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 one of the kings way back decided to give derry to london so that they were responsible for claiming the taxes due, as the plantations that were put in place were paid for by london guilds thats when it became londonderry i read it somewhere the other day while looking up the origin of the song "DANNY BOY" the original tune was known as the Londonderry aire and a london lawyer put the lyrics to it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berlin Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 I believe the Cathlics/Nationalists refer to the city as Derry and the Protestants/Unionists refer to it as Londonderry. Simple as that, as far as I know. StarSparkle StarSparkle has got it right. While Londonderry might be technically correct in the eyes of the NI High Court, Nationalists/Catholics living there will probably always refer to the city as Derry. The more extreme among them would not recognise the jurisdiction of that court anyway. Here in the South, its almost always called Derry. Personally, having been there, I would call it a dump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slimsid2000 Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 Definately Londonderry. Unless they have changed it to Adamsville or McGuinesstown by now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purple_frog Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 The local Council is called Derry City Council... ...but im only about to read the link now, so maybe the Council hasn't changed its name yet... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarSparkle Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 Definately Londonderry. Unless they have changed it to Adamsville or McGuinesstown by now. You're such a creature of the Establishment, Sid! Don't you ever feel like doing something wildly outrageous, even for a second or two? Live a little! StarSparkle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titanic99 Posted October 9, 2008 Author Share Posted October 9, 2008 The funny irony for me in this relates to my time growing up in bigoted Belfast (both sides). There was a song sung by the Protestants/Unionist called "We'll guard old Derrys walls", for people so adamant about calling it Londonderry I find the irony of this being sung by them amusing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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